The invention relates to tensioners, more particularly to tensioners that are spring biased, wedge actuated belt tensioning devices having damping and used with belts for vehicle accessory drives.
Most engines used for automobiles and the like include a number of belt driven accessory systems which are necessary for the proper operation of the vehicle. The accessory systems may include an alternator, air conditioner compressor and a power steering pump.
The accessory systems are generally mounted on a front surface of the engine. Each accessory would have a pulley mounted on a shaft for receiving power from some form of belt drive. In early systems, each accessory was driven by a separate belt that ran between the accessory and the crankshaft. With improvements in belt technology, single serpentine belts are now used in most applications. Accessories are driven by a single serpentine belt routed among the various accessory components. The serpentine belt is driven by the engine crankshaft.
Since the serpentine belt must be routed to all accessories, it has generally become longer than its predecessors. To operate properly, the belt is installed with a pre-determined tension. As it operates, it stretches slightly. This results in a decrease in belt tension, which may cause the belt to slip. Consequently, a belt tensioner is used to maintain the proper belt tension as the belt stretches during use.
As a belt tensioner operates, the running belt may excite oscillations in the tensioner spring. These oscillations are undesirable, as they cause premature wear of the belt and tensioner. Therefore, a damping mechanism is added to the tensioner to damp the oscillations.
Various damping mechanisms have been developed. They include viscous fluid based dampers, mechanisms based on frictional surfaces sliding or interaction with each other, and dampers using a series of interacting springs.
Representative of the art is U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,677 (1983) to Radocaj which discloses a tensioner having an L-shaped housing. A pair of cam plates having camming surfaces are slideably mounted in the L-shaped housing. A compression spring biases the camming plates into sliding engagement with each other. The included angle of the camming surfaces equal 90xc2x0 with the angle of a first camming surface being greater than the angle of a second camming surface.
Also representative of the art is U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,423 (1999) to Simpson which discloses a mechanical friction tensioner having spring loaded wedge-shaped blocks and friction damping. The tensioner has a wedge-shaped piston that interacts with spring biased wedge-shaped blocks. As the piston moves inward the wedge-shaped blocks are pushed outward to provide friction damping.
The prior art devices rely on springs or other components, each oriented on axes that are set at a pre-determined angle to each other. They also rely on a plurality of springs to properly operate the damping components and to urge the belt pulley into contact with a belt. The prior art does not teach a damping components that operate coaxially. Further, the prior art does not teach use of an expandable camming body. Nor does it teach the use of an expandable camming body that expands radially. Nor does it teach the use of an expandable camming body that expands radially in response to movement against a piston. Nor does it teach the use of an expandable camming body that expands radially in response to movement against a tapered piston.
What is needed is a tensioner having a coaxial piston and camming body operating coaxially. What is needed is a tensioner having an expandable camming body. What is needed is a tensioner having an expandable camming body that is radially expandable. What is needed is a tensioner having an expandable camming body that is radially expandable in response to movement against a piston. What is needed is a tensioner having an expandable camming body that expands radially in response to movement against a tapered piston. The present invention meets these needs.
The primary aspect of the invention is to provide a tensioner having a coaxial tapered piston and camming body.
Another aspect of the invention is to provide a tensioner having an expandable camming body.
Another aspect of the invention is to provide a tensioner having an expandable camming body that is radially expandable.
Another aspect of the invention is to provide a tensioner having an expandable camming body that is radially expandable in response to movement against a piston.
Another aspect of the invention is to provide a linear tensioner having an expandable camming body that expands radially in response to movement against a tapered piston.
Other aspects of the invention will be pointed out or made obvious by the following description of the invention and the accompanying drawings.
The invention comprises a self-contained mechanical belt tensioner that produces damping which is a function of applied hubload through the effect of frictional forces derived from the sliding action of mutually opposing wedges. A conical piston is contained within a housing. The conical piston cooperates with a conical wedge or camming body. The conical wedge slides on the inner surface of the housing. The conical wedge is radially expandable in a direction normal to the housing. A spring urges the conical wedge into engagement with the conical piston. As the pulley is loaded, as with an impulse load, the piston will move into the conical wedge. This, in turn, will cause the conical wedge to radially expand against the inner surface of the housing. The expansion of the conical wedge in the housing will increase the frictional force between the conical wedge and the housing. This will have the effect of damping movements of the wedge and conical piston. The greater the impulse, then the greater the expansion of the conical wedge. Hence, this increases the resultant frictional force resisting movement between the conical wedge and the housing. As the load moves toward a minimum, the camming body radially contracts and the frictional force is abated to a low level allowing ease of retraction of the piston.